Prom/Easter Weekend

This weekend was prom! I love it when I go to church dances and people ask, "So...what do you do in Joseph City?"

The question really doesn't surprise me. The only 'entertainment' we really have is a swimming pool that isn't open until summer break and the elementry playground. So what do we do? Well, my date before the dance answered that pretty well.

First off, we climbed into my date's pick-up truck that had one door that couldn't open from the inside. Some of the weathered upholstery was even creatively screwed in and his iPod was somehow plugged into the tape player.
Then it was off to the badlands to shoot at eggs, rotten oranges, tumbleweeds, and loose change!
The girl I was doubling with actually managed to hit a quater and warped it pretty badly. So when we just about demolished everything, we hopped back in the truck and drove to a local gas station to see if we could actually spend it (getting gas being a sidenote).

We could. The lady gave us a strange look, but we managed to giddly split two bite-sized LaffyTaffys, hardly believing our luck.
Oh, and on the way there, we saw a well-known citizen pulled over trying to roll a monsterous log off the road and hopefully into his own truck.
Turns out the log belonged to my family because we had chopped down the dead half of our tree that morning and the log must've fallen out of the back of my dad's truck when he was hauling it off (I think everyone 'round here has trucks.)
So we pulled over and our two able-bodied dates hopped out and helped him load it into my date's truck.
"We can bring it back to my house," I suggested.
"Nah," he shrugged, "I'll just keep it in there for awhile."
And that's what I had to later tell my peers who happened to drive by at the time. But I think I liked my date's explanation better:
"Oh, that was what we were doing. We were going to chain behind to my truck, stick someone on top, and drag it down mainstreet."

After that the plan was to go horseback riding, but our notorious wind speeds struck again. So they taught me how to drive stick instead. Don't you love improvising?

Lastly, we grilled our own hamburgers and I watched slack-jawed as my date downed two hotdogs, two hamburgers, three chocolate strawberries, two cookies, and a couple handfuls of chips.
He didn't eat dessert after the dance.

But it was soo much fun! I had my AMAZING cousin sew some AMAZING sleeves to my dress to make it more modest even prettier. In fact, (and this is another compliment to you Alicia :) I even won a loud, low whistle from my date at the door.

By the end of the dance my feet hurt, my voice was growing hoarse, and I was dead-tired. My date was the same and we both kept staring off into space we were so out of it. But boy was it a blast!! And I even saw him at early morning church the next day. Isn't that awesome?! I'll admit, I've got it really easy where I live. And I know I'm probably in for a number of huge shocks when I leave my storybook of a neighborhood. But for now, I'm simply going to brag about it.

The next morning was Easter. I absolutely love Easter baskets and egg hunts! (And yes, that straw hat was there :) But you can check out my whole childish tendencies in the previous post. What I want to focus on is the meaning.

On Wednesday our AMAZING bishop took all us young women to the Easter Pageant in Mesa. I'm really grateful too because it really put today in perspective. Parts of it was flashing through my head all through church. And describing the feelings it brought is about where my writing skills end. I'll just say that I highly, highly recommend it! Through the entire thing whenever Christ healed someone or counseled them or forgave them or simply loved them, I was reminded about how many times he'd done those same things for me. I may not have been blind, deaf, or lame physically but I can't even count how many times He's opened to things I never saw before, helped me hear His voice, and granted newfound strength to my weak limbs.

 Again, despite everything, there is always those doubts that seem to consistantly pile up in the back of my mind by the end of the week. Yet, as I sat in church today, those feelings came back and I found myself almost laughing to myself with excitement. He lives! He loves! The Gospel is here! I was surrounded by guardian angels both seen and unseen. I was sitting with my family. I could become my potential. I could be healed, forgiven, and taught. I could find joy in my trials. I had a place in his heart. I could help others come unto him. There as hope.

And all because He lives...

Shopping Spree!

I love to shop. Though, probably for different reasons than most of my peers. Let's see...how can I put this? I guess I'll just say that, more often than not, my fourteen-year-old brother outshops me by quite a bit. There will be times when we'll drive all the way to Flagstaff, do a couple of rounds in the mall, run through Target, hit Saver's, go to Sam's Club, maybe Micheal's, and even race through Wal-Mart on the way home--and I'll come home empty handed. But boy did I have fun!!

It's not like I'm super thrifty or anything. I find myself staring longingly at things from videogames to boots--both of which cost an entire mowed lawn or three. It's just that, well, I guess you could say I'm easily entertained. Let's start with the mall, shall we? I go into the hurricane-simulator (though it really only feels like I'm standing out in my backyard), jealously watch the little kids in the playground, and try on every single hat in Dillards.

At Saver's I enjoy jumping on the excercise trampolines, laughing at some of the shirts people actually wore at one point, and diving into the toy section. Toy pianos are really fun because I have the beginning of 'The Carol of the Bells', 'Minuet in G', and The Lord of the Rings Theme memorized and just dazzle all passerbys with my skill (or lack thereof). I find creepy dolls, dancing hamsters, and even things I almost wish my mom (and my ego) would let me buy. For example, I once found an accordian...

Target is also one of my favorites. They also have hats. They always seem to have this big, floppy straw one that my mom finally let me get for Easter! (Er--I mean the Easter Bunny let me get for Easter). They also have sunglasses for experimenting with. I go through the fuzzy-sock aisle and from there to the toy aisle (which will secretly always be my favorite). We actually went to Flag yesturday and I caught sight of this toy dinosaur with it's mouth open. It was obvious that you were supposed to push down it's toungue, so I did.
Snap! "YOW!!"

It was then I realized someone was standing behind me. So, between yelps, giggles, and apologies, I stumbled into the Barbie section and began to suck on my finger. Soon the pain was completely forgotten, though, as I caught sight of a display of Disney Princesses. I'm such a sucker for those...
Bop-its are also fun. Though I can never seem to beat the pillar of boredom who got the highscore of 75. I also love how they have those videogames set up to where you can actually play them. I've died so many times in Lego Star Wars that I'm not even sure if it's worth buying anymore.

Those of you who have read previous posts already know what I do in Sam's Club: Agents Sparky and 'Lee' are goin' in. Mission: Locate Female Parental Unit.  I sometimes wonder if they made the place so big just for that reason. Oh, I've also kept watch while my cousin dived onto bed cushions and love how they have 'The Dairy of a Wimpy Kid' books out to skim through. And let's not mention those yummy food samples.

I think you guys get the point. When in Wal-Mart I head for the music cards and when in Micheals, I gawk at the entire aisle of modeling clay--every shade of every color! (Those who know me know that I can create a detailed, 6 inch model of Link from 'The Legend of Zelda' faster than I can do a math problem.) It's a good thing none of those buildlings are large enough to have an escalator or an elevator. Or even banisters for that matter. I might injure myself.

I'm not even sure why I felt to post about this. I guess it's just because yesterday we went to buy my prom dress and doing something that, to little kids, seems so 'grown-up' helped me realized how much I really haven't grown up. But that's alright. I think I intend to keep it that way.

(And for those of you interested, the hot-pink dress was really the only one that we could find to make acceptable modifications too. It's a good thing my awesome date doesn't seem to mind a tie that color! He asked me by filling my entire car with easter eggs. After scrambling around, hitting my horn with my elbow, and opening them all, I found, "It would be Egg-citing to go to prom with you!!" So I gathered all those eggs and, not knowing what else to do with them, refilled them with candy and made a big "YES!" on the baseball field to greet him at practice :)

Another Detour in My Track Shoes

I groaned as my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Track-team morning runs.

Questioning my sanity in ever consigning myself to the fate of a distance runner, I rolled off my mattress and found my sweats. I also found my scriptures because we didn't actually run until 6 and I knew that if they didn't get read now, they never would.

I was reading in the book of Abraham where, after having been almost offered up as a human sacrifice by his thoughtful father, he took the Lord's advice and gathered his new wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and hightailed it out of his country. His father follows him but then settles in another land and turns back to his old, idolterous ways.

It is after an urnest prayer during this journey (if I understand correctly) that the Lord tells Abraham of the huge posterity he was destined to have.

My mind still a little groggy, I began to wonder. Here was Abraham, out on this great escape thingy with some of his family, concerned about a confused father, and the Lord tells him that? How was the promise of a real scrapbook-filler of a family supposed to help? At 5:30 in the morning it didn't make much sense.

But then, the more I thought about it, it did. I may not understand everything about this story yet, but a sudden clear thought let me know I could still learn something: the Lord was helping him keep the end in mind. He was giving Abraham hope that, despite everything, he could still come out on top. Those blessings were his to claim if he obeyed. He had an amazing legacy ahead of him, he just had to see it.

I'm sure all that Abraham really saw himself accomplishing at the time was getting food for everyone for that day or finding the next camping spot. That, and the discouragement of his father. But, like a patriarchal blessing, the Lord was helping him see the bigger picture of things to help him stay on the path.

I closed my scriptures thinking, "Alright. While I'm gasping for breath about half-way through our 2-miles, I'll just keep the end in mind: my warm car and a warmer shower. That should do it!"

I'm not gonna say it didn't work, but by the time I trundled to a stop and pulled my headphones out, I was actually thinking about what was for breakfast. I least expected the lesson to come back that afternoon at a track meet.

I was on lap two when the cold wind finally got the rain to join in its wild dance across my face. Two more to go. Just another corner and--
Whoosh!! I'm lucky I didn't blow right off the track. Sharp rain drops sliced across my goosebumpy arms and I gritted my teeth against the chill.

Who first decided running in circles was a sport anyways?

And then, out of nowhere, the promise of Abraham's seed came to mind.
Yeah, yeah, I thought, keep the end in mind. I'll be able to collapse on the grass and never set foot on another track until tommorrow.

But then I thought of the warm bus. The feeling of fullfillment. The highfives of the team. My water bottle.

I'm not sure my pace picked up much, but it was a little more endurable knowing that this race was really only about seven minutes, not seven milleniums, and that there were good things ahead.
I finally did finish. Turns out that 'Jo' city wind' actually does something because my team placed first, second, and third. But as I leaned up against the fence to watch a friend, snuggled in a jacket, and caught sight of a rainbow, I realized how much that lesson really does apply.

As we all know, we all have problems. We may be running our race as best as we can, but the rains still come. We must remember that, overall, the race is only a small part of the whole season. In the end, we have so much more. There's warmth, fullfillment, friendship, rainbows, and maybe even a medal. Heavenly Father didn't want Abraham to lose sight of his destination, neither does he want us to lose sight of ours. And that view might not shorten our trials, but it sure makes them easier to bear.

As one of my favorite quotes goes, "We see ourselves in terms of yesturday and today. But the Lord sees us in terms of forever."

Who knew a small part of the great prophet Abraham's life would someday help some silly girl at a track meet?

Soul Stretching

Wow, did I need General Conference....Every talk seemed directed at me in one way or another. I don't think I've ever had so many prayers answered at once!

I had one main concern on my mind as I listened. And it was that of a mistake of a friend. Though it had nothing to do with me, it really hurt to hear about it. I weighed heavily on my mind and heart for about two nights prior to conference and, though I knew it wasn't my fault, I kept wondering if there was possibly anything, anything at all that I could've done to prevent it. It was with this prayer that I curled up onto our living room couch this weekend to hear a much-needed prophet's voice.

It seemed every single talk and song somehow related to the situation, even at different angles. They helped me in others as well, but this one seemed the most prominent. I hadn't actually talked to this friend for awhile and had heard the news from several others. But by the end of the conference, I knew what I needed to do.

Telling my cousins that I'd pursue talking poodles and evil shadow-ninjas in a few minutes, I walked home from my grandma's (where I was watching the last session) and went straight to my room where I dialed up this amazing person I was so fortunate to have in my life.

I admit, I was nervous. What if the prompting was only my imagination? What on earth would I say? How would she react?

 "Hello?"

 Looks like I'd have to worry about those later. "Uh, Hey!"

I won't give the whole conversation (partly because I probably can't remember it) but, with the same spirit that reminded me to repent of my self-centeredness and focus on the one who really needed the help here, I told her how much I loved her and that I was still her friend. She quietly admitted that she'd been a little frightened to tell me because she was afraid I'd say the exact opposite.

I figured as much. So I simply repeated my message and, ladies and gents, you won't believe the rush of love I suddenly felt for that girl, that daughter of God. I don't think all of it was my own either.

Needless to say, all the hurt I had was gone. Lessons I had learned from the mouths of inspired people, from apostles and prophets, were reaffirmed as I shut my phone and fell to my knees.

Forgiveness, charity, patience in trials, the atonement. These are qualities I now have a stronger testimony of. But its so true! The lord desires to stretch our souls to greater heights, to consume our dross, to bring out the heroes in all of us. It's through trials that he is able to do this.

Two nights ago, with tired, disapointed tears trailing as I attempted to record the event in my journal, I would've never imagined myself on my knees so soon muttering a thousand thank-yous to the same being who I thought wasn't listening. I thought wrong.